LAHORE, May 21: The Lahore High Court restrained the provincial excise and taxation department from employing coercive measures to recover property tax from about 100 petitioners till June 10.

The petitions camp up before Justice Jawad S. Khwaja on Tuesday but Advocate-General Maqbool Ilhai Malik, who was to argue the government’s case, requested adjournment through an assistant advocate-general. The AG said he was busy before the Supreme Court at Islamabad.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that their clients were under notice to pay the impugned amounts of tax and coercive measures might be adopted by the department for their recovery. The court observed that since the adjournment had been sought by the AG, recovery by coercion would remain suspended till the next date, June 10.

The petitions challenge the new formula for property tax assessment, saying that like the earlier one declared unlawful by the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court, it was essentially based on the capital value of property rather than on its rental value. No independent evaluation has been made by the assessment authority — the excise and taxation officers (ETOs) — and the department has dictated the new rates.

The court also observed that AG should depute somebody to present the government’s case if he was not available on June 10.

REFERENDUM: Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa heard Advocate A. K. Dogar at length against the ‘fraudulent’ referendum held on April 30.